Yes, you read that right–this is only part one of three! I haven’t done a book haul post in four months, and as you can imagine (if you know how addicted to books I am), I’ve had quite a few books arrive in boxes over that time. Hence, the need for a multiple-part book haul. And the reason this one is so freaking

Without further ado, let’s get started. The books are listed and grouped in no particular order, so enjoy the randomness.

Danielle LaPorte is, as my friend who recommended this book calls her, “one badass chick.” I’m currently making my way through her book The Desire Map, and I know I’ll get a lot out of this one, too.

Don’t believe me? I just flipped open to a page, and here’s what it said:

Believe me now?

So that’s it for this part of the epic book haul.

The above books were purchased via AbeBooks.com, Amazon.com, and Collectible Science Fiction, which is becoming something of an obsession of mine. Seriously–if you haven’t visited CSF, if you’re into sci-fi and fantasy and the likes of Neil Gaiman and Octavia Butler, check his goods out. You won’t be disappointed.

What books have you acquired over the past few months? Share any and all recommendations below!

*Heads up: if you click on the links to purchase any of the mentioned books from Amazon, know that I’m an affiliate. Your purchase will help me keep this blog going (i.e., I’ll earn money to buy books that I will then write about).*

Tho less than 1% of my reading and writing is fiction, I still care about things like character development, choice of details, and narrative arc. A fine example of the last 2 is *American Dreams* by H.W. Brands, who covers US history from 1945 to 2010 with astonishing depth and detail for a main text of only 385 highly readable pages. Here is an excerpt from page 383 on the souring of some big dreams over that span of time:

«The economic dynamo that had dictated to the global economy at Bretton Woods now labored under a debt that left the dollar at the mercy of central bankers in China and Japan. Proud industrial cities … had become pale shadows of their former selves. The political system … agonized over guaranteeing medeical care that much of the rest of the world had long taken for granted. Bretton Woods, the Marshall Plan, the Great Society–those were dreams of another age; the nation in 2010 could aspire to nothing so grand.»

How might we climb out of this hole? Some of our current pols have plausible proposals, and one of them writes a diagnosis and prescriptions with an engrossing mix of anecdote and wonkery that complement each other. Elizabeth Warren’s *This Fight Is Our Fight* (2017) is a somewhat overlapping sequel to her *A Fighting Chance* (2014). Both are good reads, and it is no accident that the word “fight” is prominent in both titles.

You know, I have never used, nor seen ColletibleScience Fiction. How is it? I don’t know much about it. Had forgotten about AbeBooks until a few weeks ago and remembered [thankfully!] how great they are.

That said, your post made me realize I never read anything by PKD! I KNOW I KNOW!!! It’s okay, WILL soon enough! And hold off throwing the tomatoes for just one more moment, but, I also haven’t read The Outsiders. SHEESH I KNOW! Admittedly, though, I grew up in Puerto Rico and we got about zilch of exposure to anything decent. In fact, learning English over there was like learning Spanish over here, wholy inadequate and could be a lot better. It matters not now, though! By the time we moved to the US I was 16 or so and I think I remember the first ‘regular’ book being Where The Red Fern Grows? I think that was it. If not that was close to one of the first books.